Show Notes

As a principal, Laura Litton found herself dealing with everything *except* what she loved. Instead of coaching teachers, she was handling broken flags, bathroom floods, and press inquiries. She felt disconnected from her true passion: instructional leadership. This feeling, familiar to many educators, sparked a journey that led her to edtech, where she found a role as "Director of Teacher Happiness." Now the Director of Success at LiveSchool, Laura shares her story of moving from the classroom to administration and finally to an edtech company. [cite_start]She offers incredible insight into the post-pandemic challenges schools are facing—like chronic absenteeism—and provides heartfelt, practical advice for any teacher wondering, "What's next?"

• The Post-Pandemic Challenge: Laura explains how LiveSchool helps schools tackle today's biggest behavior challenges, including chronic absenteeism and the social-emotional skills gap left by remote learning [cite: 84, 85, 93][cite_start].
• From User to Director: Laura has a unique connection to her company—she first found and purchased LiveSchool for her own middle school back in 2012 when she was an instructional coach[cite: 31, 113, 119].
• Why She Left Administration: Laura shares candidly why being a principal wasn't "home" for her. [cite_start]She was consumed by non-instructional tasks and missed her "bread and butter" role of coaching teachers[cite: 142, 151, 154, 158].
• The "Director of Teacher Happiness": The job title that changed everything. [cite_start]Laura describes the "aha" moment when she saw a role that perfectly matched her core passion, sparking her leap to edtech [cite: 166, 179, 265][cite_start].
• Advice: Find What "Drives You": Laura's core advice for teachers is to "consider what drives you every day"[cite: 252]. [cite_start]It’s about finding a role where 75-80% of your job is the part that "gets you jazzed," not just escaping the parts that weigh you down[cite: 274, 276].

Episode Article

When Laura Litton was a school principal, she found her days consumed by tasks that had nothing to do with education. [cite_start]"Our flag got stuck at half mast... and then we got in the newspaper," she recalled[cite: 152, 153]. [cite_start]"The bathrooms broke, all of them in one day"[cite: 154]. [cite_start]She had become a principal after a colleague suggested it, moving up from an instructional coaching role she adored[cite: 142, 149]. But the reality of administration felt isolating. [cite_start]"It didn't feel home," she shared, "and it didn't feel like I was impacting my students anymore"[cite: 158].

This feeling of misalignment is something many educators experience. [cite_start]For Laura, the turning point came at an ISTE conference[cite: 159]. [cite_start]She ran into a former colleague and later saw a job posting at his new edtech company for a "Director of Teacher Happiness"[cite: 166]. The title struck a chord. [cite_start]"That's what's missing in my life," she realized[cite: 167]. [cite_start]She missed coaching teachers[cite: 179]. [cite_start]That "aha" moment propelled her to make the leap from the school system to the corporate side of edtech, where she could return to her passion on a larger scale [cite: 183][cite_start].

Today, Laura is the Director of Success at LiveSchool, a platform that helps schools improve culture with a points and rewards system[cite: 7, 13]. [cite_start]In a full-circle story, LiveSchool is the very same platform she had discovered and implemented at her own school back in 2012[cite: 31, 119]. [cite_start]In her remote role, she leads a "small but mighty" team [cite: 15] that handles everything from sales to support, giving her a direct line to educators every day. [cite_start]She's helping them solve the most pressing post-pandemic challenges, especially the "rudimentary social-emotional skills" gaps and chronic absenteeism that are plaguing schools[cite: 84, 85].

When I asked Laura for her advice to teachers considering a change, her answer was incredibly insightful. [cite_start]"You have to consider what drives you every day," she said[cite: 252]. [cite_start]She encourages educators to look beyond the daily frustrations—the lesson plans, the administrative burdens—and identify the part of the job that truly "gets you jazzed"[cite: 254, 276]. For her, that was coaching teachers. For others, it might be working with students or colleagues. [cite_start]The key, she says, is to find a role—whether it's in a new school, a new district, or a new industry like edtech—where your passion makes up 75-80% of your day[cite: 274].